Last year I made, what for an amateur and an individual was, a fairly significant effort to get TV coverage of our hobby. I did a fair amount of research and put together a 20-minute video storyboard and sent it to The Discovery Wings Channel as a proposal for a 3 to 4 part series under the subject of, or series title, "Miniature Wings." I honestly believe that the average person, even those in general aviation, isn't aware of the fact that true microturbines exist. Realizing that Wings wouldn't want to do a show strictly on model airplanes, I attempted to make the connection between hobby jets and real world applications. I pointed out that the sophistication of these "toys" (please don't take offense--I was trying to make a point) is approaching that of real world UAV's. Also, the same engines that power model jets are being used in military and aerospace research programs. One of these research planes is supposed to reach transonic speed. None of this has been shown on Wings to my knowledge. However, R/C jets, and R/C planes in general, did get some coverage on The History Channel's "Tactical to Practical."

So, where did all this lead? Well, Discovery Wings was impressed with my effort, and kind in their words, but told me that they only accept proposals from established production companies. Never mind that I called months in advance and asked if they do accept proposals from individuals, at which time I was told "all the time." Oh well, so much for internal communication! Also, I was told that in any case they do not have a budget for original production. Basically, they only buy programs already in the can.

I can't tell you how difficult it is to get something like this going. Even if you are already into video production, making what are essentially documentaries is usually a losing proposition, from what I'm told. I still think that there is enough material out there to make a miniseries around a "Miniature Wings" theme that would be of interest to a general audience, and certainly to that of Discovery Wings. Again, it wouldn't be strictly about models, but would look at all manner of UAV's and research aircraft small enough to be considered "miniature" relative to full scale aircraft. I'm aware that Wings has done stuff on UAV's, but I think this would be a little different, as well as updated with fresh material.

It was this research the led to the article I did here on RCU. A lot of what I found was left out of the article, though.

Paul